Heat treating basket

ABSTRACT

A stack of heat treating baskets each having a cylindrical side wall with opposed openings therein is lifted by a plurality of lifting bars each having vertically spaced lifting lugs which are inserted into the side wall openings. The lugs are so spaced that the load of each basket is distributed directly to the lifting lugs as the stack of baskets is lifted.

United States Patent Elkow et al.

[151 3,658,373 [451 Apr. 25, 1972 .[73] Assignee:

[54] HEAT TREATING BASKET [72] Inventors: Steven A. Elkow, LagrangePark; Kenneth 52 vs. C ..2 94/67, 294/67 D, 214/105 R [51] Int. Cl. ..,B66c 1/16 [58] Field of Search ..294/67 R, 67 B, 67 D, 67 DC,

294/81 R, 81 SF; 214/105 [56] A References Cited Wald ..294/67 DA 2,344,940 3/1944 Deloghia ..294/67 DB Primary Examiner Evon C. Blunk Assistant Examiner-Johnny D. Cherry Attorney-Smythe & Moore ABSTRACT A stack of heat treating baskets each having a cylindrical side wall with opposed openings therein is lifted by aplurality of lifting bars each having vertically spaced lifting lugs which are inserted into the side wall openings. The lugs are so spaced that the load of each basket is distributed directly to the lifting lugs as the stack of baskets is lifted.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,894,664 1/1933 Butts ..294/67 R HEAT TREATING BASKET The heat treating of pans, such as by carburizing, is a step required in many manufacturing processes. The parts are usually placed into a basket and a plurality of such baskets are vertically stacked and positioned into a pit or other type furnace. The baskets are generally provided with lifting lugs protruding from the outer surfaces of their side walls. Lifting bars are used which have a plurality of vertically spaced openings to receive the basket lugs. However, this lifting arrangement had the disadvantage that on lifting the hot baskets out of the furnace, the total weight of the stacked baskets could be transmitted-to the two lifting ears of the bottom basket. This resulted in premature failure of the ears. Since such failure could occur during a lifting operation, the result was a swinging of the. stacked baskets which sometimes resulted in damaging the furnace, such as by tearing out the brick work. Also, when the baskets are lifted, and swinging occurs,'the protruding ears might damage furnace components.

It is one of the objects of the invention to provide an improved heat treating basket. It is another of the objects of the invention to provide a heat treating basket and lifting bar therefor wherein the loads of individual baskets will be distributed directly to the lifting bar.

Another object of the invention is to provide a heat treating basket wherein lifting lugs projecting from the side wall thereof are eliminated. According to one aspect of the present invention, a heat treating basket may comprise a cup-shaped container having a substantially cylindrical side wall and a grid bottom spaced inwardly from the lower edge of the side walls of the basket. The basket side wall is provided with opposed openings for receivingthe lifting lugs of a lift bar. A plurality of nesting legs protion will be apparent from the accompanying description and drawings, which are merely exemplary.

in the drawings: FIG. I is a side elevational view of a stack of heat treating baskets positioned above a pit furnace;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 2 2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of one side of the stacked assembly of FIG. 3 showing the relationship of the baskets during lifting; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view taken along the line 5--5 of FIG. 3.

Proceeding next to the drawings wherein like referencesymbols indicate the same parts throughout the various views, a specific embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

As may be seen in FIG. 1, there is illustrated at 10 a pit furnace having an opening 11 in the top wall thereof through which a stacked assembly of heat treating baskets indicated at 12 is positioned above the furnace. The stack of baskets com- FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. I

prises heat treating baskets 13 supported on lifting bars 14 which have their upper ends engaged by lifting fixture 15.

The heat treating basket 13 is illustrated in greater detail in FIGS. 3 and 4 and comprises a substantially cylindrical side wall 16 and a grid bottom 17 positioned therein and spaced inwardly from the lower edge 18 of the side wall. Perforated plate 17A rests on grid bottom 17.

The lower edge of 18 of a heat treating basket is turned inwardly at 19 (FIGS. 3, 5) and is provided with a notch 20 FIG. 5 Proje cting above the upper edge 21 of the basket wall" is a plurality of nesting legs 22 which are received in the notches 20 to provide a stable stack as may be seen in FIG. 3.

The side wall 16 of each heat treating basket 13 is provided with a pair of diametrically opposed openings 23. A channelshaped inner wall 24 is attached to the inner surface of the side wall 16 to enclose the opening 23.

Each of the lifting bars 14 comprises an elongated body number.25 which may have a substantially rectangular cross section which may be seen in FIG. 2. Spaced along one face of the body member is a plurality of lifting lugs 26 each formed with an outer flang'e'portion 27 to facilitate hooking into the side wall opening '23. In the upper end of each lifting bar is an opening 28 into which is received a hook 29 of the lifting fixture 15 which in turn is secured by a cable to a suitable crane or the like.

The lifting lugs 26 are spaced along the lifting bar at distances slightly greater than the distances between the aligned side wall openings 23 of a plurality of stacked baskets. As a result, the individual baskets of a stack are seperated slightly as they are lifted so that the load of each basket is distributed directly to the lifting ears. This spacing of the baskets is shown in FIG. 4.

Positioning of the lifting ears or lugs 26 on the inner faces of the lifting bars reduces somewhat the maximum diameter of a part which can beplaced in a given side basket. This, however, should be no problem since large diameter parts are normally run on post fixtures and the volume of space available for small parts in a basket is not affected. Further, by eliminating the lifting lugs on the side walls of the heating baskets, the useful operating life of a heat treating basket is substantially lengthened. The distribution of the loads of the individual baskets to the respective lifting lugs also contributes to the length of useful life.

It will be understood that various details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention except as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

' 1. In combination a plurality of vertically stacked heat treating baskets having cylindrical side walls with there being vertically aligned openings in said side walls, a plurality of vertically positioned lifting bars spaced around the periphery of they .tributing means comprises the lifting lugs on a bar being spaced slightly greater than the distance between aligned side wall openings of the stacked baskets.

4. In the combination as claimed in claim 1 wherein the openings in a basket are diametrically opposed. 

1. In combination a plurality of vertically stacked heat treating baskets having cylindrical side walls with there being vertically aligned openings in said side walls, a plurality of vertically positioned lifting bars spaced around the periphery of the stacked baskets, said lifting bars each having a plurality of vertically spaced lifting lugs thereon insertable into said basket side wall openings.
 2. In the combination as claimed in claim 1 and comprising means on said stacked baskets and lifting bars for distributing the load of each basket directly to the lifting lugs as the stack of baskets is lifted.
 3. In the combination as claimed in claim 2 wherein said distributing means comprises the lifting lugs on a bar being spaced slightly greater than the distance between aligned side wall openings of the stacked baskets.
 4. In the combination as claimed in claim 1 wherEin the openings in a basket are diametrically opposed. 